Lowest desktop cpu TDP,Intel Atom?

[jazzo]

Hi,I currently have a 3 year old Pentium 4 machine,it can be a bit loud and I think use too much power for what i actually need.

So with being eco-friendly in mind and also wanting a quiet and noise free system should i go with the Intel Atom cpu?

Aall i use the pc for is surfing the web,checking emails and these kind of basic tasks,so all i'm really now seeking is a tower or building one that uses as less energy for what i need.

Should i go for the Gigabyte GA-GC230D Intel Atom 230 Processor 945GC+ Mini-ITX Motherboard? which goes for sale around the £50 mark,or maybe the low end celeron or sempron cpu's?

Or is the Intel Atom the best for the type of machine i described?

Thanks for future replys...

P.S. I hear there is also going to be an intel atom rival coming from amd? Is this true and will it be coming out soon and worth waiting for?I don't care for dual-core or anything as i really use the pc for very basic tasks.

 

[malachi]

I currently use Intel Atom in my Net book and the performance is ok but was better when I dropped 2gb RAM in it.
For a desktop PC on a tight budget I would go for a low end Celeron as they are now dual core and eco-friendly. If you decided to put Vista on there though you will need a dual core CPU for good performance even just for basic tasks.

 

[DireEmblem]

If your looking at the atom, I believe the NB they coupled it with on most boards you can purchase are a lot more power hungry, and there are some people that have underclocked amd chips instead...

 

[Talrinys]

Atom chips are fantastic but probably too scaled back, better to get a dualcore chip, one of the cheaper Core 2 chips or AMD chips and underclock them.

 

[Ben M]

undervolting a "proper" chip would be a better idea.

saying you're doing something to be "green" is a bad idea, are you factoring in the manufacture and transportation of the kit that you are buying?